Letter-file



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. V. NAUERTH.

LETTER FI E.

Patented Mar. 28, 1882..

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. V. NAUERTH.

LETTER EILE.

No. 255,447. Patented Mar. 28,1882

' in the file-case.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE V. NAUERTH, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

LETTER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 255,447, dated March 28, 1882.

Application filed August 15, 1881. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I GEo.V. NAUERTH, of the city of Dayton, in Montgomery county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Files, of which the following is a specification.

The object of myinvention is to provide a file or temporary binder for letters or other papers, which shall combine the elements of simplicity, compactness, ease and convenience of operation, and which shall have a capacity for containing a greater number of letters, bills, &c., within the same space, and at the same time preserving them in a better shape than is possessed by the letter-files now in use.

The various features of myinvention will be obvious from the drawings and the following description. I

Figure 1 is a perspective view, representing my invention as it appears when the papers are secured therein. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one end of the cover which retainsthe papers Fig. 3 represents theposition occupied by the various elements when-it is desired to examine the contents of the file. Fig. 4 represents the preferred form of indexfolio which I employ in connection with the file-box.

This filebox consists of a bottom piece, A, and the cover B, the bottom piece, A, having attached thereto the end piece, A, and back A To the inner face of each of the end pieces, A, are secured the racks a, each one of which consists of a series of teeth projecting slightly from the inner face of the end piece, the width of the notches between the teeth preferably exceeding the thickness of the respective teeth. To the bottom piece, A, and near the back and end pieces, are secured the upright pins b, the upper or free end of each of these pins being provided with a detachable head or knob, b. At the rear edge of the cover B are the two notches C, so situated that when the cover is in position they (the notches) will engage the pins b, as shown in Fig. 1, the notches 0 being sufficiently deep to allow the rear edge of the cover to come in contact with the back A. To each end of the cover 13 are attached the lugs c 0, located so as to each engage with one of the racks a when the cover isin the position shown in Fig. 1.

In connection with the above-described filebox I employ a series of index-folios, one of which is shown in Fig. 4. Each of these folios is folded as shown at d in Fig. 4, forming two leaves, d d, between which leaves the letters or papers to be filed under a given letter are to be placed, the fold at d permitting the leaves to be separated to the necessary extent. One of these folios is provided for each indexletter, a portion of one of the leaves, preferably the lower one, extending slightly beyond the other and being provided with the appropriate index-letter. Each of these folios is perforated near its rear edge to permit the pins b to pass through said folios when the latter are placed in the file-box, thus preventing them from slipping out of said box when the cover B is removed. To introduce these several folios into the file-box, the knobs or heads b are unscrewed from the pins b, and the folios are then placed in the file-box in their proper order, the pins b entering the perforations before mentioned. When the sheets have all been thusintroduced the knobs are screwed on the pins, and the sheets are thus retained in the box. The letters, bills, or other papers to be filed are now to be placed in their proper. folio and the cover B secured in the box, which latter act is performed by simply placing said cover on top of the folios, the lugs c c on the ends of the cover being in front of the respect ive racks a on the end pieces, A, when, by a. slight pressure downward and toward the back of the file-box, the papers are presseddown and the cover is moved back in the box, the lugs c c entering one of the notches in the respective racks a, and the cover is thus secured, andthe papers are held firmly in the tile.

It may be here remarked that it is not essential to the perfect operation of my invention that the various lugs c 0 should enter notches at the same distance from the top of the rack. This is an important feature, for the reason that the papers inth'e file may be thicker at one end or corner of the box than at the other end or corners, and the cover cannot therefore be pressed down so far in this corner as at the other corners; but by the particular construction of my invention this, as before stated, will not interfere with the perfect working of my device, as each corner of the cover may be pressed firmly down on the papers and secured in this position.

When it is desired to examine any of the papers in the file the cover B may be thrown back to the position shown in Fig. 3, the space between the back edges of the several fnlios 5 and the back piece, A of the file-box being suflieient to admit the edge otthe cover, by which means a support is formed for the papers, which may be turned back after the manner of the leaves of a book.

By the construction above described I am enabled to file papers in the box until it becomes filled to the top, and all of the papers thus filed, no matter what their size may be, will be held firmly and smoothly until such time as it is desired to remove them from the file to make room for others. When; the tile is filled, or at any stated period, the several folios, together with the papers therein filed, are removed from the file-box and placed in an appropriate transfer-case, to be filed away for future reference. To remove these folios it is simply necessary to unscrew the knobs b from the pins b, when said folios may be lifted from the box and other similar folios substituted 25 therefor.

It will be obvious that any desired number of the above-described files may be grouped together in a cabinet and arranged in any desirable manner.

What I claim as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described letter-file, consisting of an outer case, provided with the racks a and the pins 0, and the cover '13, provided with the lugs c c and notches O, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. A letter-file consisting of an outer ease, provided with racks a, and the cover B, pro vided with lugs c c, fixedly attached to the cover and arranged in such a manner that the cover and lugs are attached to and detached from the racks by sliding the cover horizontally, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

GEO. V. NAUERTH.

Attest:

WM. H. PUGH, E. R. HILL. 

